Studio Retail Share Discussion Threads

[1gw] 30/12/2021 08:43

I make that over 2m shares added between them since their previous notifications, so can we expect a balancing reduction notice from Frasers?

In %, Ennismore has more than doubled it's stake from 3% in December last year to 6.2% now, and Lombard Odier has more than doubled from 4.7% in January to 11.3% now.

Nice to have some institutions prepared to add like this to offset Frasers' selling.

[zho] 30/12/2021 08:16

Lombard Odier 10% -> 11.26%

Ennismore 5% -> 6.22%

[skindle] 23/12/2021 12:52

This is a concerted effort by Messrs Ashley and a Brough to persuade the board to agree to sell the business to Frasers for 161 pence per share. Having these two characters as major shareholders is akin to asking the great train robbers to run the British economy !

[skindle] 23/12/2021 09:38

Andy Broughs decision to sell shares in STU at this level is a curious one given that over two years ago he voted to reject a bid from Frasers of 161 pence per share. In that year the company achieved adjusted profit before tax of £23.3m. The forecast profit before tax this financial year is reported to be £35m as a worst case scenario.

[skindle] 22/12/2021 19:04

Yes a rather contradictory message coming out of Schroders. On the one hand Andy Brough the fund manager speaks in very bullish terms about the prospects of the company and then promptly sells 229,783 shares in STU. If a major fund with a substantial holding in the company can’t make up their minds, what is the retail investor supposed to make of it. A positive trading update from the board is sorely needed.

[planit2] 22/12/2021 16:12

I didn't like the Schroders RNS.

If they want to reduce their holding it is a lot of overhang.

Also they aren't getting much value at the moment unless they believe the share price will fall further.

I sold the last few I held on the news.

[zho] 22/12/2021 15:21

Schroders 19.2% -> 18.9%

[zho] 22/12/2021 07:58

Ah, okay, thanks.

Studio Retail Group (STU): Revenue aspiration with a wow factor

Studio Retail Group (SRG) is a focused play on the growth of online value non-food retail. Management's aspiration to accelerate medium-term revenue growth, to a CAGR of 10-15% over four to six years, is expected from gains in active credit customer numbers and spend per customer. SRG's valuation is at a significant discount to its own historical multiples (despite an improved medium-term growth aspiration), its peers and our DCF-based valuation of c 420p per share if it can achieve its aspirations.

SRG's FY22e EV/sales multiple of 0.3x and P/E multiple of 5.0x are well below its long-term averages despite it now offering a more focused portfolio with an improved medium-term growth outlook. It also trades at a significant discount to online and offline peers despite attractive relative margins. A DCF-based valuation, which includes the assumption that management meets its £1bn revenue target by FY27 (year six), indicates a share price of 420p/share. The Frasers Group shareholding of c 27% represents an overhang to share price performance.

[skindle] 21/12/2021 23:04

21st Dec 2021 7:01 am EQS Studio Retail Group (STU): Revenue aspiration with a wow factor
25th Nov 2021 7:00 am RNS Half-year Report
8th Nov 2021 7:00 am RNS Directorate Change
3rd Nov 2021 4:21 pm RNS

No idea zho !

[skindle] 21/12/2021 18:17

The Edison Group report was released as an EQS today (isn’t that a new Mercedes ?) Was it this release that caused the increased volume today (805,000 shares traded) ?

[skindle] 20/12/2021 08:40

The usual Edison pie in the sky -

hxxps://www.edisongroup.com/publication/revenue-aspiration-with-a-wow-factor/30352

[skindle] 13/12/2021 12:32

The share price has flat lined at this level now since the end of November at just above the price we could all have accepted back in March 2019. The board now have a mandate to begin purchasing back their own shares. Surely at this level (164 pence), company funds are best invested in commencing a share buyback programme, just as Frasers has announced today. Phil Maudesley, Roger Siddle, we need you back to guide our current incumbents who would appear to have lost the powers of communication.

[planit2] 10/12/2021 17:45

I think he was talking about the last results not the forward projection that killed the share price. (he talked about the worry of what would happen when furlough ended)

It was picked up on here that the bad debt provision didn't drop when it could have and Andy agreed they could have reduced it.

[zho] 09/12/2021 10:19

Yes, interesting. AB says that that STU “erred on the side of caution – they could have made the numbers much better”. The reason was overly cautious “bad debt provision, which [their modelling suggested] should have been £13 million lower”.

[tomps2] 09/12/2021 09:20

Andy Brough interview with PIWORLD

Andy Brough mentions Studio Retail #STU in the latest PIWORLD interview at 17m50s then again at 19m47s

Watch the video here:

Or listen to the Podcast here:

[1gw] 09/12/2021 08:44

Thanks zho, that's a good clip. Interesting comment on the implications of them overriding the machine on the bad debt provisioning.

[zho] 09/12/2021 08:39

Andy Brough on STU from 19.47:

[planit2] 02/12/2021 13:40

I did think this today, people have gone back 10 months with the way they are acting, masks, turning away when I walk past etc.
There is no doubt people will be shopping more from home and avoiding going out which is good for STU.
It would take a complete lockdown to get to the stage where margins are increased due to a shortage of online Christmas offerings though.

[skindle] 02/12/2021 08:55

Thanks for your response TexasPete2. The share price is now firmly rooted at 169/170. Can anyone see any hope of a rise in price in the next six or eight weeks ? I am feeling very gloomy on this currently.

[texaspete2] 30/11/2021 16:15

Thanks for sharing. This does looking very cheap now, the market pricing it clearly for a reason unbeknown to me. I did luckily manage to sell half my holding at 230p and have been waiting to buy back in, so looking for the price to stabilise. I can only assume with the latest covid news that people with start staying at home again and doing shopping online. BooHoo is continuing to fall so will watch wider sector before adding more here for now. Also at least mgt are being clear on their guidance and quoting previous numbers. I wonder if they are setting the bar lower to then beat it. On the other hand I should have saw a profit warning coming after they gave no indication on profit in the last trading update!

[skindle] 30/11/2021 08:29

This makes interesting reading



The Findel results up to March 2019, the same month that Frasers made their audacious 161 pence per share offer, which shareholders unanimously rejected of course. Adjusted PBT £28.8m, core debt £57.4m.

Core debt much reduced now and forecast to record PBT of £35-40m. Curiously our share price is hovering just above 161 pence. None of this diminution makes sense to me.

[skindle] 29/11/2021 13:42

Going way back to the post rights issue era in 2011 when the share price was three pence, I always felt that the company had a bright future despite lots of extraordinary items and impairments in the accounts early on. The management at the time kept shareholders and the market informed as to their progress even though they were carrying Kitbag, Kleeneze and Findel Education as loss makers. Now we have a streamlined successful and profitable business partly as a result of the exoerience and professionalism of the previous management. Unfortunately, our current incumbents, even though they are lucky enough to be presiding over a now strong business choose to ignore numerous opportunities to promote the company through business media such as the Financial Times. In conclusion, as a shareholder I have never felt more negative than I do now about the future of this company and it is all down to the poor leadership. Clearly, the wider market feels the same, hence the continuing diminution in value.

[planit2] 26/11/2021 13:28

So STU have got hold of enough stock but it has cost them much more than normal.

Forward profit figures are terrible and if that carries on into the future then pe ratio of 5 gives a market cap of 125m, a further 16% drop from here.

Against that no one knows the current situation, how much stock have other retailers got, did they cut back because costs were high or are sales going to be lower than last year? If retailers start to run out of clothes then suddenly the pricing power comes back and profits will be much higher than forecast.

I still like the App figures, but if the app is so good then why is advertising such a problem. Online retail seems a bit cutthroat at the moment.

I have wavered this morning on whether to buy some (I luckily had sold down to 97 shares before yesterday) but there are other better deals out there. I feel I will have another opportunity with STU.